Arts and Entertainment Archives

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly on a remote island, the animated film “The Wild Robot” has a group of characters that are talking animals and talking robots.

Culture Clash: After crash-landing on Earth, an alien robot becomes a mother figure to a young goose, who learns lessons about loyalty and life along the way.

Culture Audience: “The Wild Robot” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of book on which the movie is based, the movie’s headliners and family-friendly animated films that skillfully blend comedy and drama.

Fink (voiced by Pedro Pascal), Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) and Pinktail (voiced by Catherine O’Hara) in “The Wild Robot” (Image courtesy of DreamWorks Animation)

“The Wild Robot” is a heartwarming and visually dazzling animated adaptation of Peter Brown’s 2016 novel of the same. Lupita Nyong’o does an excellent job of making a robot character have believable humanity. The rest of the movie’s voice cast is also stellar.

Written and directed by Chris Sanders, “The Wild Robot” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie keeps the plot uncomplicated and treads on a well-worn animated path of being a coming-of-age story where two very different characters are thrown together under unexpected circumstances and learn about life from each other. Most movies about robots usually have humans as main characters, but “The Wild Robot” stands out because there are no humans in the movie—only talking animals and talking robots.

“The Wild Robot” begins by showing a robot named Rozzum Unit 7134, later nicknamed Roz (voiced by Nyong’o), who crash-lands from outer space and becomes stranded on an island that has no humans. In the beginning of the movie, Roz is very rigid and focused only on following the orders that she was programmed to fulfill. She has been taught that once her duties have been completed for her owner, she has to shut down and be programmed for the next owner. It’s later revealed that Roz comes from a company called Universal Dynamics.

The crash accidentally caused the death of family of geese, except for the only survivor: an unhatched egg. Roz believes she was programmed to protect this egg. A sly fox named Fink (voiced by Pedro Pascal) steals the egg, so Roz chases Fink through a heavily wooded area. Roz captures the fox, plucks a whisker from his face, retrieves the egg, and lets Fink go. The egg soon hatches and reveals itself to be a runt male gosling.

Roz asks this newborn goose, “Was this task completed to your satisfaction?” She asks the goose to rate her skills on a scale of 1 to 10. The frightened gosling can only chirp out an answer. Roz says, “I’ll register that as a 10.”

Roz and the orphaned gosling soon meet a family of young opossums led by a snarky matriarch Pinktail (voiced by Catherine O’Hara), who don’t want to adopt this orphaned bird. Pinktail insists that Roz can take care of the gosling. Roz soon learns that she should have three tasks to complete to raise this newborn to become an independent goose who will be ready to migrate in autumn with the other geese in the community: “Eat. Swim. Fly by fall.”

At first, Roz wants to give numbers as a name for this gosling. (One bland and boring suggestion is 001.) However, Fink comes slinking back out of curiosity and says that this young goose should be given words as names. Roz takes this advice and names the gosling Brightbill when she sees his bill light up in the glow of the atmosphere.

Brightbill (voiced by Kit Connor) grows up to be a young adult who is bullied and taunted by other geese, who think of Brightbill as a tiny wimp and Roz as a monster. The chances look slim that outcast Brightbill will be invited to migrate with the other geese. Fink still hangs around as a family acquaintance who eventually earns more trust.

An elderly goose named Longneck (voiced by Bill Nighy) becomes the first goose to treat Brightbill and Roz with kindness. Other talking animals that appear in the movie are a fearsome grizzly bear named Thorn (voiced by Mark Hamill), a confident falcon named Thunderbolt (voiced by Ving Rhames) and an eccentric beaver named Paddler (voiced by Matt Berry), who is also trying to find acceptance with this clique-ish animal community on the island.

“The Wild Robot” has a lot to say about parental responsibilities and how families can exist with beings who are not biologically related. The movie treats themes of co-dependence and independence in thoughtful and clever ways, as observations and commentaries on interpersonal relationships and authoritarian control. A robot villain character named Vontra (voiced by Stephanie Hsu) represents the dark side of authoritarianism.

It’s fitting that the main character getting the child raising in “The Wild Robot” is a bird because the movie has several moments when Roz has to grapple with the experience of being an “empty nester.” One of the more impactful lines of dialogue in the movie is when Roz says she thinks of kindness as a survival skill. People might get misty-eyed in some scenes that are clearly intended to be tearjerking moments about family and friendship.

“The Wild Robot” brims with dynamic energy, gorgeous visuals and memorable characters, even if the movie offers no surprises. The movie’s writing and directing (complemented by Kris Bowers’ adventurous musical score) do not pander mainly to kids under the age of 10 because there’s much that can be enjoyed by people of many different age groups. The ending of the film obviously hints at a sequel, which should please viewers who want to see this appealing story continue.

Universal Pictures will release “The Wild Robot” in U.S. cinemas on September 27, 2024.

Review: ‘¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!,’ starring Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Scott Shoemaker and Dana Rodriguez

September 8, 2024

by Carla Hay

“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!”

Directed by Arthur Bradford

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly in the Colorado municipality of Lakewood and briefly in the Los Angeles area, from 2021 to 2023, the documentary film “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” has a predominantly white group of people (with a few Latin people and African Americans) who are connected in some way to Casa Bonita, a theme park-styled Mexican restaurant in Lakewood.

Culture Clash: “South Park” and “The Book of Mormon” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone buy Casa Bonita out of bankruptcy and encounter many high-priced obstacles in their quest to re-open the restaurant.

Culture Audience: “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Parker and Stone and are interested in watching a documentary about reviving a beloved business.

“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” (which means “Pretty House My Love!” in Spanish) is a predictable but enjoyable documentary about the challenges that Trey Parker and Matt Stone had in re-opening the Colorado restaurant Casa Bonita. Parker makes the movie amusing, but aspects of the eatery’s Mexican heritage get sidelined for his antics. It’s also a movie about persistence and the power of childhood nostalgia.

Directed by Arthur Bradford, “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” had its world premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Festival, where it won the Audience Award in the documentary category. “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” (which was filmed from 2021 to 2023) takes place primarily in Lakewood, Colorado, the municipality where Casa Bonita is located and is one of the top tourist attractions in the Denver area. Lakewood is about nine miles southwest of Denver. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Lakewood’s population was reported as 103,355 people, with 66% identifying as white and 23% identifying as Hispanic/Latin of any race. Hispanics/Latin people are the fastest growing ethnic group in Lakewood.

Casa Bonita, which has live entertainment and amusement attractions, has been called “the Disneyland of Mexican restaurants.” The size of the venue (whose exterior is painted in “dusty pink”) is about 52,000 square feet and includes a labyrinth of man-made caves and indoor grottos. Casa Bonita was founded in 1973 by spouses Bill Waugh and Frances Waugh, who then sold the restaurant in 1982 for $32.5 million to a United Kingdom-based company called Wingate, which let Casa Bonita decline into dangerous disrepair because Wingate didn’t want to spend money on the necessary maintenance.

“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” has a brief interview with Frances Waugh, who says that she and husband Bill (who died in 2015 at age 79) immediately regretted selling Casa Bonita and thought about buying it back, but it was too late. The documentary has archival footage of Bill doing a TV interview where he expresses the same remorse about selling Casa Bonita. In the late 2010s, before the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed many hospitality businesses, Casa Bonita (despite being run-down and having low-quality food) was getting about 5,000 customers a day. Casa Bonita shut down in 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And then, Casa Bonita declared bankruptcy.

Parker and Stone (the award-winning creators of the animated comedy series “South Park” and the stage musical “The Book of Mormon”) grew up in the Lakewood/Denver area and frequented Casa Bonita during their childhoods. “South Park” has had references to Casa Bonita and the Lakewood area in multiple episodes. In 2021, Parker and Stone announced that they had purchased Casa Bonita and planned to re-open it. “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” chronicles this turbulent journey, which includes the original re-opening budget of $6.5 million soaring to $40 million because of all the costs to repair the extensive damage and disrepair in Casa Bonita.

It’s important to have all of this background information (which the documentary includes) because there’s significant discussion in “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” about Parker and Stone wanting to preserve the restaurant’s original themes that highlighted Mexican heritage. (For example, mariachi bands have been a vital part of Casa Bonita’s live entertainment.) The documentary shows Parker traveling to Mexico with Dana “Loca” Rodriguez, who was hired to be the executive chef of the re-opened Casa Bonita, so that Parker can learn more about Mexican food, drinks and culture.

However, the documentary shows that in the months leading up to restaurant’s re-opening in June 2023, Parker (who is more personally involved than Stone in re-opening Casa Bonita) is more concerned about the very Anglo-American aspects of the entertainment at Casa Bonita. He fixates on small details, such as changing an animatronic cowboy’s wardrobe to wear a Farrah Fawcett T-shirt when Parker makes an inconvenient decision to suddenly revamp the cowboys in Casa Bonita to be from the 1970s instead of the 1870s. This decision is a direct result of Parker’s childhood memories of going to Casa Bonita when he was a kid in the 1970s.

In another scene in the documentary, Parker is shown getting inspiration for Casa Bonita not from native Mexican culture but from hearing that Elvis Presley starred in a 1963 movie called “Fun in Acapulco.” “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” predictably includes clips from the movie but repeatedly erase native Mexican culture from the documentary. If not for the name of the restaurant, you could watch this documentary and think that it’s not even a Mexican restaurant because of how Mexican culture is diminished or ignored in the movie.

“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” has a few scenes that briefly show some Mexican-themed entertainment and decor, such as a mariachi band and some Day of the Dead decorations and props. However, “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” fails to mention what Parker learned from his trip or trips to Mexico. Instead, the documentary shows Parker making a series of joking quips every time he gets more bad news about something that will delay or increase the cost of re-opening Casa Bonita.

Casa Bonita executive chef Rodriguez is the only person of color who is shown in a leadership role for Casa Bonita. She has an interesting background that is quickly mentioned in the documentary. In a documentary interview, Rodriguez (who immigrated from Mexico the United States in 1998) says that she applied for a dishwasher job at Casa Bonita shortly after moving to the area. She was rejected because she was told she wasn’t qualified. Rodriguez says she got her nickname Loca (which means crazy female in Spanish) when she went on a rant against a racist who scolded her for speaking Spanish in an incident that didn’t take place at Casa Bonita.

Years later, Parker says in the documentary that Rodriguez was his first choice to hire as the re-opened Casa Bonita’s executive chef, based on recommendations and his “gut instinct.” When she was hired for the re-opened Casa Bonita, Rodriguez had become the James Beard-nominated owner/executive chef of Cantina Loca. (Cantina Loca closed for business in 2024). Rodriguez going from being a rejected dishwasher applicant to an executive chef at Casa Bonita is an ironic and incredible comeback story that “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” seems to dismiss by only showing Rodriguez attending Casa Bonita staff meetings or being a travel guide for Parker during their trip to Mexico.

For a documentary about the re-opening of a restaurant, executive chef Rodriguez and her staff don’t get as much screen time as they should. The documentary features several interviews with unnamed customers who say they want the re-opened Casa Bonita to have better food than the original Casa Bonita. And yet, the items on the menu and the dynamics of the kitchen and server staff are never detailed. (Showing a plate of soft tacos being served doesn’t count.)

There are a few short scenes where an unidentified kitchen manager shows concerns about how the computer-operated machines were not working correctly in taking custom orders, so those glitches needed to be corrected. There are no scenes of Rodriguez training any kitchen staff or showing how she created the revamped Casa Bonita’s new menu. She did all of that, of course, but it’s just not in this movie.

Instead, “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” spends a lot of time showing construction manager Scott Shoemaker fretting and fuming about all the costs and delays involved in renovating Casa Bonita. (An epilogue in the movie mentions that Shoemaker and Rodriguez fell in love and became a couple, but whatever romance they had is not in the documentary.) Casa Bonita art director Chris Spellman, Dan Jennison of Jennison Studios, Charles S. McQuerry of Show Construction and project electrician Steve Bender are among those who provide commentary about the renovations.

Also featured are Casa Bonita entertainment director Ben Schrader and Casa Bonita entertainment manager Amber Blais, who supervise the costumed entertainers who depict characters in the restaurant. When Parker admittedly causes chaos by making drastic changes on short notice, Blais is seen tactfully navigating these changes and saying that they can make the adjustments. (After all, she’s not going be foolish enough to go on camera to complain about one of the owners of the place that’s employing her.)

“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” shows in great detail how Parker and Stone see firsthand that they bought a dump filled with safety violations and health hazards. When Parker visits the closed Casa Bonita after becoming a co-owner, he quips that the restaurant still has the same familiar smell of “chlorine and beans.” Parker is more hands-on in the renovation process, which Stone freely admits he is more comfortable letting Parker handle. “He’s a romantic,” Stone says of Parker’s attitude about revamping Casa Bonita. “The kid in him is very much alive.”

Stone and Parker, who are based in the Los Angeles area, are shown commuting to Casa Bonita in between doing their work for “South Park” in Los Angeles. The documentary includes some footage of the duo recording some “South Park” voice sessions. South Park” and “The Book of Mormon” executive producer Anne Garefino provides some short commentary about Parker and Stone having to juggle their “South Park” jobs with the Casa Bonita commitments.

Among the problems encountered in renovating Casa Bonita includes an indoor diving pool where the diver employees had a very unsafe area to change outfits where they could’ve easily been electrocuted. The restaurant had a lot of outdated electrical wiring and deteriorating equipment. One of the most alarming discoveries was a massive structure beam that had no foundation (there was literally a hole where the floor should’ve been to hold up the beam), and this defective beam would’ve caused the building to collapse if there had been an earthquake-level shake-up to the building.

The documentary includes interviews with several former associates of Casa Bonita, including Phil Phillips, the restaurant’s original designer and builder. He remembers the reaction when people saw and heard about the flamboyantly pink Casa Bonita: “Every single person from Denver said, ‘Why are you doing this? This is not going to work. Nobody is going to come here.” Proving the skeptics wrong, Casa Bonita became an immediate hit, although the restaurant’s eventual decline tarnished its reputation.

An eclectic mix of other former Casa Bonita employees also give sound bites in the documentary interviews. The former employees include Paul Vinyard, who was Casa Bonita’s president from 1975 to 1981; Paul Lang, Casa Bonita’s first art director; and Don Shannon, who worked for Casa Bonita from 1981 to 1990. Some of them have fond memories of Casa Bonita, while others do not. Chad Wonder, who was a Casa Bonita magician in 2015, says: “The cave smelled like urine.” Jim “JB” Brown, who was a Casa Bonita employee from 1974 to 1980, says he became so disgusted by the slovenly conditions at Casa Bonita, he contacted corporate headquarters to request that his name be removed from the employee honor roll that was listed at the restaurant.

Also interviewed in the documentary, with only quick comments shown, are Don Whitcomb, author of “The Casa Bonita You Never Knew”; Ramiro Cazaux, art director of Park County; Carly Pric, company manager of Park County; Bethel Lindsley, Casa Bonita dive team leader; and Casa Bonita employee Luis Barron Elias, who says of Casa Bonita: “We like to say it’s our restaurant because it’s our family.”

“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” includes a few appearances by Colorado governor Jared Polis, who obviously has a friendly relationship with Parker and Stone. Polis is shown during an on-stage speaking appearance at a “South Park” 25th anniversary concert in 2022, at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado. Polis half-jokingly comments on stage that Colorado went from having the 9th lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. to the 4th lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. because of the contractors and subcontractors working at Casa Bonita.

Despite all the trials and tribulations, Parker and Stone show determination in seeing things through, even though their Casa Bonita investment is considered to be a “money pit.” Parker says repeatedly that his commitment to the project has everything to do with wanting people to get the same feeling from Casa Bonita that he had as a child but make it an even better experience with big improvements from the original Casa Bonita. The documentary also features brief appearances from Trey’s father Randy Parker and Trey’s daughter Betty Parker, who give their reactions to the renovated Casa Bonita.

Because the outcome of this renovation is already well-known, there is no suspense in “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!,” a documentary that is essentially another marketing tool for Casa Bonita. This documentary is from the perspective that makes it almost look like “The Trey Parker Show,” while everyone else is a supporting character. If people don’t mind seeing a very filtered look at what went into renovating and reopening this well-known restaurant, “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” can be entertaining enough to watch, even when you can tell that a lot of interesting things were left out of the movie.

MTV Documentary Films released “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” in Denver on September 6, 2024, with an expansion to more U.S. cities on September 13, 2024.

Review: ‘Look Into My Eyes’ (2024), starring Per Erik Borja, Eugene Grygo, Nikenya Hall, Phoebe Hoffman, Michael Kim, Sherrie Lynne and Ilka Pinheiro

September 6, 2024

by Carla Hay

Ilka Pinheiro (pictured at left) and a client in “Look Into My Eyes” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“Look Into My Eyes” (2024)

Directed by Lana Wilson

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the documentary film “Look Into My Eyes” features a racially diverse group of people (white, African American, Asian and Latin) who are involved in some way in giving or receiving psychic readings.

Culture Clash: The seven psychics featured in the movie grapple with their own emotional baggage, trauma and self-doubt while they are in the business of comforting others.

Culture Audience: “Look Into My Eyes” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in watching documentaries about human psychology, whether viewers believe in psychics or not.

Per Erik Borja (pictured at right) with a client in “Look Into My Eyes” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“Look Into My Eyes” is not a journalistic exposé about people who claim to be psychics. This empathetic documentary about seven self-proclaimed psychics in New York City ignores the reality that con artists can use personal information that people put on social media. This movie is mostly about people wanting emotional validation from strangers. Skeptics might be amused by some of the guessing games and performances that show the so-called psychics fumbling to say things that their customers want to hear. Believers will be enthralled and will be reluctant to question the credibility of the self-appointed psychics. It’s perhaps no coincidence that all of the psychics featured in this documentary are aspiring or failed entertainers.

Directed by Lana Wilson, “Look Into My Eyes” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary is a series of scenes that alternate between two types of footage: (1) readings that the seven psychics do for their customers, who are not identified by their names in the documentary and (2) interviews and leisure time with the psychics, who talk about their own personal lives. All of the psychics featured in “Look Into My Eyes” claim to be able to see and communicate with the dead.

What the documentary uncovers about these seven psychics is that almost all of them are deeply insecure, emotionally damaged, and struggling with various issues, such as mental health, addiction recovery and/or financial instability. But they are also very good at talking and giving people the type of comfort that these customers are seeking, which is the real motivation for anyone to take a psychic seriously. “Look Into My Eyes” does not have interviews with the clients of these so-called psychics.

It’s open to debate whether or not psychic abilities exist in human beings. The seven psychics in “Look Into My Eyes” certainly don’t do much to remove skeptical doubt that they have psychic abilities because of all the inaccurate guessing that they have in their psychic readings. The documentary also never questions, investigates, or mentions if the so-called psychics could have researched their clients’ personal lives before the meeting sessions.

The seven psychics who are the focus of the documentary are:

Per Erik Borja, an aspiring actor who happens to be openly gay.
Eugene Grygo, an aspiring actor/screenwriter who happens to be openly gay.
Nikenya Hall, a writer who also claims to be an energy healer.
Phoebe Hoffman, a high-school dropout and TV-watching enthusiast whose specialty is mind reading of animal pets who are dead or alive.
Michael Kim, an aspiring actor who says he began having paranormal experiences in the late 2010s.
Sherrie Lynne, an entertainer who hires herself out for events and dresses in stereotypical psychic clothes when she does readings.
Ilka Pinheiro, a social justice warrior who brings her progressive views into her psychic readings.

All of the so-called psychics in the documentary were in their 30s, 40s or 50s when this documentary was made, except for Lynne, who appears to be in her 70s. The male psychics are all soft-spoken, while the female psychics all have outspoken personalities. The documentary gives the most screen time to Grygo and the least amount of screen time to Lynne.

Some of the scenes are kind of pathetic, such as Grygo showing he has no singing talent when he warbles off-key during his singing lessons, or when Lynne tries to scrounge up some business by asking random people if they want to hire her to be a psychic at their next party. Most of these psychics live in cramped and cluttered apartments and directly or indirectly admit that the money they make as psychics is to fund their aspirations to become professional entertainers, either in acting and/or screenwriting, because they don’t want to work in regular “9 to 5” jobs.

Out of the seven psychics, Kim (who speaks in a calm, mediatative voice) is the one who gives the most accurate readings, but he also appears to be the most skilled in figuring out the right things to say to his customers at any given moment. He rarely gets flustered when his guesses are wrong. And that could have a lot to do with his background training as an actor.

Viewers of “Look Into My Eyes” will see Hoffman talk about her troubled past in her 20s, when she became a shut-in and addicted to cocaine while living with and doing drugs with her father, who also had cocaine addiction issues. Hoffman, who says she is now clean and sober, claims she’s known about her psychic abilities since she was a teenager. But considering she says she also started abusing drugs when she was a teen, it’s hard to know how much of her “psychic visions” were drug-induced. Hoffman mentions that she’s still struggling with social anxiety and other issues, which is one of the reasons why she says she can’t have a “regular job.”

The sob stories continue. Borja gets teary-eyed when remembering how an ex-boyfriend broke his heart. Grygo breaks down and cries when discussing the ongoing emotional pain of grieving over his brother dying by suicide. The documentary doesn’t have the psychics explain if they feel like they were born psychic or if they suddenly developed psychic skills when they needed a side hustle to supplement their incomes.

Coincidence or not, even though these psychics talk about many things in their personal lives, they don’t talk about their marital status or how being a so-called psychic affects their love lives. The psychics in this documentary all come across as being lonely and unlucky in love. Apparently, their psychic skills don’t extend to being able to find the right romantic partner.

Some of the psychics say that they are more attuned to troubled souls than most people are because of their own personal experiences of feeling like an outsider. Kim says he feels a deep connection to a young female client who was born in China and was adopted by Americans but she wants to know more about her Chinese birth mother, who gave her up for adoption. Kim says that he was also adopted by white parents.

Hall talks about being originally from a conservative, religious community in Oklahoma, where she says she felt like a misfit. Hall says she only felt comfortable where she lived when she moved to New York City. Hall also gives a mini-tour of her apartment in a scene that didn’t need to be in this documentary. Viewers really don’t need to know what kinds of figurines and knickknacks she collects when a more interesting story would be her life experiences that led her to make money by claiming to be a psychic.

“Look Into My Eyes” doesn’t reveal much more background information about the psychics except that Kim used to be an actor student at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York City. At the end of the documentary, he has a session with a woman who was a Strasberg classmate and who wants Kim to contact her deceased male best friend, who was also a Strasberg classmate. Coincidence or not? We might never know, but Strasberg gets plenty of free publicity mentions in this documentary.

As for the psychic readings in “Look Into My Eyes,” most of them are not as convincing as these self-proclaimed psychics would like you to think they are, especially in this day and age when it’s so easy to find out information about people by doing an Internet search. People who are skilled in human psychology can see how the readings mainly consist of picking up on visual clues from the customers, such as body language and physical appearance. The psychics start off with vague statements until the customers reveal more information so the psychics can make better guesses.

Some of the readings are laughably bad because they just involve some common sense and guessing. In one of the readings, Pinheiro states the obvious when she does a reading for a young man with blue-streaked hair who wants to know what the future holds, in terms of his career. Her “psychic” diagnosis is that she tells him that he’s a creative type who doesn’t want to work in an office job. You don’t have to be a psychic to know that people who dye their hair blue are not conventional people and probably don’t want to be hired in an office where employees are expected to wear their hair and clothes in a conservative manner.

Even more cringeworthy is a session where Borja makes all the wrong guesses and asks to start over in the session, but he still makes the wrong guesses. In an interview after this disastrous “psychic reading,” an embarrassed Borja admits that he often doesn’t know what he’s doing in these “psychic readings.” The filmmakers of “Look Into My Eyes” should be given credit for putting this major mess-up in the documentary, but it might leave some skeptic viewers feeling unmoved and wondering why someone with questionable psychic skills is being showcased in this documentary in the first place.

Skeptics will never be able to get this question out of their minds when the psychic statements about deceased loved ones are fairly accurate: Who’s to say that these psychics didn’t look up information and photos about these clients and their deceased loved ones before the readings happened? Most obituaries are available on the Internet. The documentary has no information on whether or not these psychics knew the names of these customers before the sessions, which look like appointments, not walk-in sessions. Because “Look Into My Eyes” refuses to address these information, this omission lowers the quality of the documentary.

The pet psychic sessions have the least credibility. It’s not that difficult to tell someone who lost a pet that the pet is speaking and asking the grieving pet owner to be in a better emotional place. You don’t have to be a psychic to tell someone whose pet has been missing for years that the pet is probably dead. The dubious psychic part comes in when the “psychic” says that the dead pet who went missing is now speaking and wants the pet owner to know that the pet is not suffering anymore. And you just know the pet owner will start to cry.

As a so-called pet psychic, some of Hoffman’s psychic readings sound more like pet training tips that she could’ve gotten from watching pet shows on Animal Planet or any of the National Geographic channels. For example, in one of Hoffman’s sessions, she has a woman customer who is concerned about her Boston Terrier named Dottie, who is unruly and resistant when Dottie has to walk on a leash. (The dog is not there during this “psychic reading” session.) Hoffman’s answers to this client consist of basic dog psychology and training advice—in other words, things that a famous dog trainer such as Cesar Millan could’ve easily said too—and he doesn’t claim to be psychic.

Even though “Look Into My Eyes” has a lot of flaws and omitted information, it’s still a compelling look at people’s willingness to believe that there is life after death and that a connection with deceased loved ones is still possible. Instead of debunking these psychics, this documentary is more interested in showing how people who are troubled in some way will seek out counseling from strangers. Psychics, whether genuine or not, are unofficial therapists and counselors. And if people want to pay others to get this type of therapy in order to feel good, then people should have the freedom to do so, as long as they don’t think they’re getting conned and ripped off in the process.

A24 released “Look Into My Eyes” in select U.S. cinemas on September 6, 2024.

Review: ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,’ starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe

September 5, 2024

by Carla Hay

Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Beetlejuce Beetlejuice”

Directed by Tim Burton

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional city of Winter River, Connecticut, the fantasy film “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (a sequel to the 1988 movie “Beetlejuice”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latinos and some African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Troublemaking and wisecracking demon Beetlejuice returns from captivity to stop the wedding of his would-be bride Lydia Deetz, a psychic who can see ghosts, while Lydia tries to repair her strained relationship with her daughter, and Beetlejuice is being hunted by his vengeful former bride.

Culture Audience: “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the the first “Beetlejuice” movie, the movie’s headliners, director Tim Burton, and anyone who likes watching high-energy movies that are comedic supernatural stories.

Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder and Justin Theroux in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” comes very close to being overstuffed with subplots, but they all tie together in the end. This flawed but energetic sequel to 1988’s “Beetlejuice” has enough supernatural fun to charm new fans and existing fans. Do viewers need to see the first “Beetlejuice” movie to understand “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”? No, but it certainly helps, especially in noticing many of the references to the first “Beetlejuice” movie that are in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” These references (also known as Easter eggs) can be considered shameless fan servicing, but most sequels of hit movies are guilty of pandering to die-hard fans.

Directed by Tim Burton, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who are both collaborators with Burton on Netflix’s “Addams Family” spinoff series “Wednesday.” Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren wrote the first “Beetlejuice” movie, which was directed by Burton. Neither movie is perfect, but both movies have appeal to people who like movies that combine Gothic sensibilities with goofy comedy. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has many more characters (almost too many) compared to the first “Beetlejuice” movie, but the visual effects in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” are a vast improvement over the cringeworthy and tacky visual effects in “Beetlejuice.” The makeup in Beetlejuice” was superb though, which is why the movie won an Oscar for Best Makeup.

The original “Beetlejuice” movie has a simple plot: The ghosts of a married couple named Adam Maitland (played by Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (played by Geena Davis) try to get rid of the wealthy new family who have moved into and renovated the Maitlands’ former house in the fictional city of Winter River, Connecticut. The house’s new residents are former real estate developer Charles Deetz (played by Jeffrey Jones); his pretentious sculptor/conceptual artist wife Delia Deetz; and their Goth psychic teenage daughter Lydia Deetz (played by Winona Ryder), who is the only one in the family who can see ghosts.

The house is isolated and sits on a hilltop, which is why there are no neighbors who notice the strange activity taking place in the house. The Maitlands reluctantly enlist a troublemaking and wisecracking ghost demon named Betelgeuse (played by Michael Keaton) to try to get rid of the Deetz family. Betelgeuse becomes enamored with Lydia and wants to marry her. Betelgeuse (who lived and died as a human sometime in the 1300s) appears when his name is said three times in a row. There’s an entirely different discussion that could be had about how inappropriate it is for Betelgeuse to marry an underage teen, but it underscores how much of a creep Betelgeuse is and how he comes from an era when it was considered normal to marry someone who is 15 or 16 years old.

In “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Lydia (also played by Ryder) is now a single mother who is the famous host of TV series called “Ghost House With Lydia Deetz,” where she helps people who say they have haunted houses. It’s mentioned that Lydia has been a professional psychic for the past 15 years. Lydia is a pill-popping neurotic who has been dating her manager Rory (played by Justin Theroux), who is an obviously slimy manipulator pretending to be sensitive and caring. Rory not only enables Lydia’s drug abuse, but he also encourages it.

Lydia uses pills to cope with her personal life being a mess. She barely speaks to her parents. Lydia also doesn’t have much of a relationship with her teenage daughter Astrid (played by Jenna Ortega, star of “Wednesday”), who is bitter because Astrid thinks Lydia cares more about her career than Lydia cares about Astrid. Lydia was separated from Astrid’s father Richard (played by Santiago Cabrera) when Richard died in a drowning accident.

Astrid, who is about 16 or 17, is a student at a boarding school, where Astrid is a loner who is treated like an outsider freak because of what Lydia does for a living. There’s a scene where some “mean girls” have vandalized Astrid’s room by putting up a paper ghost in the room that says “Boo.” Astrid is highly intellgent and well-read, but she has a lot of anger toward Lydia. Astrid thinks Lydia is a fraud because Lydia cannot see the ghost of Astrid’s father Richard.

One day, Lydia gets a frantic phone call from her mother Delia, who tells her to come to Winter River immediately. That’s how Lydia finds out that her father Charles died. His plane crashed over the South Pacific, and he was killed by a shark. In real life, “Beetlejuice” co-star Jones, who played Charles, got arrested in 2002 for child porn. Jones is now a registered sex offender, which is probably why he wasn’t asked to be in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which uses animation, visual effects and archival footage of Jones to depict Charles in the movie.

Lydia feels uncomfortable with returning to Winter River, because it brings back bad memories of Betelgeuse, whose name is now spelled Beetlejuice in this sequel. (“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was actually filmed in the United Kingdom, Vermont and Massachusetts.) Astrid and Rory also go to Winter River to attend Charles’ funeral. Delia and Astrid don’t really know each other but they do have one thing in common: They both despise Rory.

To the horror of Delia and Astrid, Rory uses Charles’ memorial service to propose marriage to Lydia—and he wants to get married in Winter River on Halloween, which is two days after this marriage proposal. Father Damien (played by Burn Gorman), the priest to led the funeral service, has been enlisted to officiate at the wedding. Lydia wants more time to think about Rory’s marriage proposal. However, Rory makes her feel guilty, so she reluctantly agrees to this hasty wedding. Lydia is also seeing some indications that Beetlejuice might be coming back into her life.

Meanwhile, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” explains from the beginning that Beetlejuice has been trapped in an afterlife purgatory. In his previous life (when he was alive), he was a grave robber who married a femme fatale named Delores (played by Monica Bellucci), the leader of a soul-sucking cult. Beetlejuice left Delores, but the ghost of Delores wants to get back together with Beetlejuice by any means necessary to marry him. An early scene in the movie shows Delores putting her sliced body back together, with her restored body in stitches.

Beetlejuice has several mute minions with shrunken heads who wear the same type of striped suit that he does. His most loyal and rusted minion is named Bob. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has a lot of scenes with these minions that might remind people of how the “Despicable Me” animated movies use their own minion characters for anti-hero/supervillain Gru.

One of the biggest comedic gags in the “Beetlejuice” movies is an afterlife waiting room, where recently deceased people wait to get checked in to travel to heaven, hell or somewhere in between. The ghosts appear exactly as how they looked when they died, which means many of these ghosts are mutilated or deformed if they died gruesome deaths. Near the beginning of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Danny DeVito has a quick cameo as an unnamed janitor in this afterlife waiting area.

It’s in this waiting area, there’s an Afterlife Crimes Unit led by a pompous ghost named Wolf Jackson (played by Willem Dafoe), who was an actor when he was alive. Wolf was an actor who was best known for playing a police detective named Frank Hardballed. As a ghost, Wolf still likes to pretend that he’s a real cop. He takes it upon himself to lead team that is looking for Delores, the chief suspect in a spree of murders where people’s souls have been sucked out of them.

And there’s even more going on in this plot: After Lydia accepts Rory’s marriage proposal, a disgusted Astrid storms off on her bicycle. Astrid accidentally crashes through a fence and tumbles into a backyard tree. The tree has a treehouse, where teenage Jeremy Frazier (played by Arthur Conti) happens to be when Astrid has her bike accident.

You know what happens next: Jeremy and Astrid, who are both about the same age and are intellectual loners, have an immediate attraction to each other. But what will happen to their relationship if Astrid is only going to be in Winter River for a few days? There are some twists and turns in “Beetlejuice” which have some surprises that are more unpredictable than others.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has some nostalgic references to the first “Beetlejuice” movie. The Handbook for the Recently Deceased is once again a pivotal part of the plot. Miss Shannon’s School for Girls, which was seen at the end of “Beetlejuice,” has a much more prominent role in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” Little Jane Butterfield (played by Rachel Mittelman), the pre-teen daughter of nosy real-estate agent Jane Butterfield (played by Annie McEnroe) in “Beetlejuice,” is now all grown up in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” The adult Jane Butterfield Jr. (played by Amy Nuttall) is also a real-estate agent.

Music also plays a big role in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which has “Beetlejuice” composer Danny Elfman returning for the franchise’s jaunty score music. In “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” there’s a soul train where people in the waiting area dance like they’re in a “Soul Train” episode from the 1970s. There are mostly African American people (many with Afro hairstyles) in these soul train scenes, which might or might not be taken a certain way depending on how much viewers know about “Soul Train” in the 1970s.

Songs from Harry Belafonte’s 1956 “Calypso” album—most notably the hit tune “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”—are prominently featured in the original “Beetlejuice” and can be heard again in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” But the song that gets its big moment in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” is “MacArthur Park,” which was a hit (separately) for Richard Harris in 1968 and Donna Summer in 1978. Also look for a comedic moment featuring Richard Marx’s 1989 hit “Right Here Waiting.”

Keaton, Ryder and O’Hara all give very good performances in reprising their “Beetlejuice” roles. In “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Ryder has the most challenging task of the three original “Beetlejuice” stars because her Lydia character has changed the most from the original “Beetlejuice” movie. Lydia is now a complicated adult with more emotional baggage than what the teenage Lydia character had. Much of the movie relies on Lydia’s reactions to a lot of the mayhem that takes place. Ryder’s performance as Lydia (who gets the most screen time in the movie) could be annoying to some or entertaining to others, but she is always compelling to watch in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” Keaton’s Beetlejuice is essentially the same, while O’Hara’s Delia is even more cartoonish than in the original “Beetlejuice” movie.

Ortega and Theroux are perfectly fine in their roles, but they’re both doing versions of other characters that they’ve already done on screen: the pouting teen character for Ortega, the two-faced liar character for Theroux. The “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” filmmakers made the right decision to have Delores say as little as possible because Bellucci has a limited acting range compared to other stars in the “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” cast, although she looks fabulous as Delores, who could pass for an evil cousin of Morticia Addams. Dafoe hams it up as the buffoonish Wolf, who is the most unnecessary new character in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” at times seems a little too self-satisfied with all of the different subplots that are sometimes left to dangle and are left hanging while another subplot comes along as a distraction. The mischievious rogue Beetlejuice is also not in the movie as much as some viewers might expect from a film named after this character. Overall, if viewers have any curiosity about “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” it’s best to see the original “Beetlejuice” movie first and then enjoy the somewhat wild and bumpy ride that is “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”

Warner Bros. Pictures will release “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” in U.S. cinemas on September 6, 2024. The movie was released in several countries outside the U.S. and had sneak preview screenings in U.S. cinemas on September 4, 2024.

Review: ‘The Forge’ (2024), starring Cameron Arnett, Priscilla Shirer, Karen Abercrombie and Aspen Kennedy

September 4, 2024

by Carla Hay

Aspen Kennedy (fifth from left) and Cameron Arnett (sixth from left) in “The Forge” (Photo courtesy of Affirm Films)

“The Forge” (2024)

Directed by Alex Kendrick

Culture Representation: Taking place in Charlotte, North Carolina, the dramatic film “The Forge” features a predominantly African American group of people (with some white people, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A young adult man, who is angry over his father’s abandonment, finds purpose and meaning in his life when his boss becomes his religious mentor.

Culture Audience: “The Forge” will appeal mainly to people who can tolerate faith-based films that are preachy but well-meaning.

Priscilla Shirer in “The Forge” (Photo courtesy of Affirm Films)

“The Forge” is a pleasantly formulaic faith-based drama that tends to be preachy and mundane. However, the acting is solid, and the characters are likeable in this story about a young man who finds his identity and purpose. Viewers should not expect any surprises in this movie.

“The Forge” was directed by Alex Kendrick, who co-wrote “The Forge” screenplay with his brother Stephen Kendrick. The movie takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina, but was actually filmed mostly in Albany, Georgia. “The Forge” has some unflattering clichés about African Americans in urban areas. It’s yet another movie about an “at risk” young African American man raised by a single mother because his father abandoned the family.

These tired and over-used stereotypes would be offensive if “The Forge” didn’t have a balance of positive and realistic portrayals of African Americans. The fact of the matter is that most African Americans are not criminals or addicted to drugs. Most African American fathers are not deadbeat dads. Thankfully, “The Forge” does not depict the movie’s protagonist as a criminal but as someone who feels lost and in search of a purpose in life, which is something that many people can relate to, regardless of their racial or ethnic identity.

The movie begins by showing 19-year-old Isaiah Wright (played by Aspen Kennedy) playing basketball with some of his friends. It’s soon revealed in “The Forge” that Isaiah is addicted to playing video games. Isaiah is a good guy, but he doesn’t have any direction or goals in his life since he graduated from high school a year earlier. He lives with his divorced mother Cynthia Wright (played by Priscilla Shirer), who is so bitter about the divorce from her ex-husband Darren (played by Michael J. Patterson), she doesn’t even like to talk about him. Darren hasn’t had contact with Cynthia and Isaiah for several years.

Cynthia has had enough of Isaiah living rent-free in her house and not doing anything productive with his life. One day, Cynthia tells Isaiah: “If you don’t want to go to college, that’s fine. But you’ve got to get a job.” She also tells him that his days of living rent-free in her home will soon be over. Cynthia adds sternly, “You’re not going to spend all of your graduation money on video games and sneakers.”

The trailer for “The Forge” reveals about 90% of the plot, including the way that Darren shows up in Isaiah’s life after not seeing or communicating with Isaiah for years. Isaiah gets a warehouse job at Moore Fitness, a successful company that makes about 205 different fitness products. Moore Fitness is facing stiff competition from a company called Slayer Sports, which is aggressively going after an exclusive contract with GymFit, the biggest client of Moore Fitness. If Moore Fitness loses GymFit as a client, then Moore Fitness will be in serious danger of going out of business. You can almost do a countdown to the “race against time” scene that you know is coming as soon as the contract deadline is mentioned in the movie.

Isaiah is personally hired by Moore Fitness owner/founder Joshua Moore (played by Cameron Moore), who has a chance encounter with Isaiah when Isaiah is in an office reception area to fill out a job application. Before Joshua hires Isaiah, he takes Isaiah out to lunch and tells Isaiah that Isaiah must answer three questions in order to be hired at Moore Fitness: “In what ways do you want to grow in the next year?” “What kind of man do you want to be?” “What do you want people to think when they see you coming?”

Joshua is happily married to Janelle Moore (played by B.J. Arnett, Cameron Arnett’s real-life wife), who is the company’s human resources manager. It should come as no surprise that Joshua and Janelle have a tragedy from their past which explains why Joshua has taken such a keen interest in Isaiah. You know where all of this is going, of course.

Joshua becomes a mentor/father figure to Isaiah, who learns the value of hard work and personal integrity on the job and under Joshua’s guidance. Isaiah befriends some Moore Fitness employees who are nice but have generic personalities and don’t get enough screen time to be fully developed characters. Joshua also leads an all-male Christian group called The Forge, which has prayer circles on a regular basis. The Forge meets at a local church, where church employee Jonathan (played by Jonathan Evans) is also part of The Forge. Isaiah’s addiction to playing video games is handled in an entirely predictable manner after he becomes a responsible adult.

“The Forge” is a very patriarchal movie that tries to give meaningful screen time to Cynthia, who works at a hair salon, which has its own prayer group that consists entirely of women. One of the outspoken people in the salon’s prayer group is Miss Clara Williams (played by Karen Abercrombie), who is somewhat of a sitcom-ish stereotype of an elderly woman who says whatever is on her mind because she’s at a point in her life where she doesn’t really care what other people think of her. The scenes of Cynthia at her job are not pointless, but they don’t have as much impact as the scenes with Isaiah and his relationship with Joshua.

Some of the scenes in “The Forge” are very corny, while other scenes are very realistic. It’s a mixed bag of a movie that has its heart in the right place. Skip watching “The Forge” if you don’t want to hear religious lectures in a movie. But if you tolerate or like these types of movies, then “The Forge” has enough to offer that is familiar and entertaining.

Affirm Films released “The Forge” in U.S. cinemas on September 23, 2024.

Review: ‘Fly’ (2024), starring Jimmy Pouchert, Marta Empinotti, Scotty Bob Morgan, Julia Botelho Morgan, Espen Fadnes and Amber Forte

September 3, 2024

by Carla Hay

Espen Fadnes and Julia Botelho in “Fly” (Photo courtesy of Reel Peak Films/National Geographic Documentary Films)

“Fly” (2024)

Directed by Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau

Culture Representation: Taking place in the United States and in Europe, from 2019 to 2022, the documentary film “Fly” features a group of predominantly white people (and a few people of Asian/Pacific Islander heritage) who are connected in some way to the sport of BASE jumping, which is jumping off of very high, stationary places with usually only a parachute and/or wing suit for support equipment.

Culture Clash: Professional BASE jumpers experience personal rewards and refuse to have conventional lives, but the risk is very high that they will die or get seriously injured while BASE jumping.

Culture Audience: “Fly” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in watching documentaries about people whose lives revolve around extreme sports.

Scotty Bob Morgan and Espen Fadnes in “Fly” (Photo courtesy of Reel Peak Films/National Geographic Documentary Films)

With breathtaking cinematography and even more poignant human stories, “Fly” is an unforgettable documentary about the dangerous sport of BASE jumping. The documentary shows in unflinching ways how the sport can be as fulfilling as it is addicting. BASE is an acronym for the four possible types of stationary jumping-off points in BASE jumping: buildings, antennas, spans and earth. In “Fly,” the BASE jumpers are all seen jumping off from earth areas, usually cliffs.

“Fly” should be seen on the biggest screen possible. However, viewers who get vertigo from watching things filmed from extreme heights should be warned that “Fly” might induce dizziness and nausea in several scenes that show human flight at vertiginous heights and breakneck speeds. (The sound design for “Fly” is excellent in giving viewers a sense of the high-velocity speed involved in BASE jumping.) Beyond these scenes that will thrill many viewers and will make others feel a little sick, “Fly” has moments that are truly tearjerking because of what happens to some of the people featured in the movie.

Directed by Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau (who are also “Fly’s” main cinematographers), “Fly” was filmed from 2019 to 2022, in various parts of the United States and Europe, such as Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Switzerland, France, and Norway. The movie had its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival before screening at 2024 edition Hot Docs and the 2024 Telluride Film Festival. Six BASE jumping people (three couples) are the focus of “Fly,” which explores the physical aspects of BASE jumping, along with the emotional toll that the sport takes on the lives of participants who devote most of their time to BASE jumping.

“Fly” might get some comparisons to “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” a 2024 documentary about a Russian couple engaging in rooftopping: a dangerous and usually illegal sport of climbing extremely high structures without ropes, nets or other safety measures. Unlike rooftopping, which almost always involves trespassing, BASE jumping is considered a legitimate sport, but not any less dangerous than rooftopping. Professional BASE jumpers can compete in international competitions and often get sponsors.

In “Fly,” the six BASE jumping people (three couples) who get the spotlight are:

Jimmy Pouchert and Marta Empinotti, a married couple who co-founded Apex BASE, a California-based company that sells BASE jumping equipment and gear, teaches BASE jumping classes, and hosts BASE jumping events. Pouchert and Empinotti—who were a childless couple in their 50s and living in Moab, Utah, when this documentary was filmed—started BASE jumping in their late teens or 20s. Pouchert (an American) is jovial and has a daredevil personality. Empinotti (originally from Brazil) is more pragmatic and cautious than Pouchert. They co-founded an annual get-together in Las Vegas for BASE jumpers (many of them current and former Apex BASE trainees) to let loose and party.
Scotty Bob Morgan and Julia Botelho Morgan (both in their 30s)—the biggest risk-taking couple in the documentary—were dating and got married during the course of making this documentary. Morgan (an American) is a former U.S. Marine who served in the Iraq War and overcame a troubled past to devote himself to professional BASE jumping. Botelho Morgan (originally from Brazil) was an attorney who quit the law profession to become a skydiver in the Brazilian Army and then became a professional BASE jumper. The spouses operate a California-based training course called Bob’s BASE Academy, although Apex BASE is the main focus of the BASE jumping training that is shown in “Fly.”
Espen Fadnes (in his 40s) and Amber Forte (in her 30s) are a married couple living in Norway, which is Fadnes’ native country. Forte is originally from the United Kingdom. Fadnes, who is considered a pioneer in wingsuit BASE jumping, is a former World Cup champ for the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)/World Air Sports Federation. He has been featured in the Netflix documentary “Wingmen.” Just like the other couples featured in this documentary, this European BASE jumping couple say that they are lucky to have found each other because it’s rare to find a romantic partner who shares the same passion for BASE jumping. Fadnes is very open about how nothing is more important to him than BASE jumping, and he won’t stop BASE jumping, even if people close to him die from it. Forte says she’s less of a risk-taker than Fadnes and she gets more thrills from feeling like flying than feeling like she’s risking her life.

“Fly” begins wth a captioned quote from Leonardo da Vinci: “Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward.” It certainly describes how die-hard BASE jumpers feel about this sport that they say they can’t live without. Unlike many other sports where professional athletes are expected to retire by the time they’re in their 50s, the “Fly” BASE jumpers say that there really is no age limit for adults to continue BASE jumping.

Fadnes comments on what people get out of BASE jumping: “We feel enormous joy … We are dreamers. There is value in that.” Fadnes also express deep admiration for Morgan, whom Fadnes considers to be one of the best BASE jumpers in the world. Pouchert adds, “A lot of people have said that base jumping has saved their life. It’s a form of absolute bliss.”

On the flip side, Morgan and Fadnes are among the BASE jumpers who say more than once in the documentary that being a professional BASE jumper requires a lot of selfishness. Because of the sport’s high-risk demands, most professional BASE jumpers are obsessed with the sport and make BASE jumping more important than most relationships in their lives. Professional BASE jumpers also have to brush aside concerns from loved ones who are worried that the BASE jumpers will die from this sport.

Morgan says in a separate interview about why he became hooked on BASE jumping: “It was love at first jump.” Morgan adds that he BASE jumps every week. “It’s been good for me,” he states. “It’s therapeutic.” Morgan explains that BASE jumping has helped him with his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and got him through some rough patches in his life, such as when he had drug abuse issues and “ran into some legal trouble.”

Pouchert jokes, “I could be the only person in the world who was taught to jump by his wife.” Remarkably, Empinotti says she has never had a serious injury while BASE jumping. She later opens up about how she dealt with the trauma of a having a boyfriend who died from BASE jumping when she was in her late teens. She also confesses that Pouchert’s tendency to be a jokester in serious situations used to bother her but she grew to accept that was part of his personality.

In addition to putting their lives in danger, the BASE jumpers featured in “Fly” are candid in showing how people who make a commitment to this unconventional lifestyle usually have to lead nomadic existences without a steady income. Professional BASE jumpers often choose not to have children. They also have to accept the reality that many of their friends and/or family members who are BASE jumpers could most likely die from BASE jumping.

Issues of life and death are never far from the focus of the documentary. By the end of the documentary, one of the younger couples in this documentary will bring new life into world when they become parents. (The woman in the couple even BASE jumps when she’s at least six months pregnant.) Someone in another couple experiences near-fatal injuries while BASE jumping. And another couple has the worst possible outcome to the couple’s love story.

It’s impossible not to notice that most people involved in BASE jumping are of a certain demographic. The documentary doesn’t really offer an explanation for why BASE jumping is not a racially diverse or socioeconomically diverse sport, although the clues are there. It’s similar to why race car driving, tennis, golf and skiing are not racially diverse or socioeconomically diverse sports: Getting lessons and traveling in these sports have financial expenses that many people cannot afford. Participants who are not affluent have to make a lot of financial sacrifices to stay in the sport.

Most “daredevil” sports also tend to be dominated by men. “Fly” makes it clear that the women who co-star in the documentary were skilled BASE jumpers long before they met their male romantic partners. Forte explains her perspective of being a female in a sport where the majority of participants are male: “I never wanted to be a boy. I just wanted to be able to do what the boys could do.”

If there’s any shortcoming in “Fly,” it’s that the documentary could have had a little more variety by giving more screen time to professional BASE jumpers who aren’t in a committed relationship with a romantic partner. There’s a glimpse of how lonely this life can be, early in the documentary when Morgan says that he’s essentially homeless and sleeping on friends’ couches because he doesn’t see the point of paying rent for a place where he won’t be living for most of the year. Later, after Morgan and Botelho Morgan are married, he says that being married has changed his mind about putting down roots somewhere.

Morgan’s mother Julie Maxwell Morgan says she often gets asked if she’s worried about her son dying while BASE jumping. She says yes, but his happiness is more important to her. “I don’t think Scotty can be happy unless he can fly,” Maxwell Morgan comments. She also says she feels slightly envious that he’s found a passion for something in his life and has accomplished a lot with this passion, which is something that she was never able to do in her own life.

Also featured in the documentary are two scruffy BASE jumpers who are close friends of Pouchert and Marta Empinotti: Jason “Jay Mo” Moledzki is a native Canadian who is a co-founder and creative director of Flight-1, a Florida-based company that teaches canopy flight skills. Ben “Dicko” Dixon is a long-haired Australian native/Utah resident who looks like he could also be a bohemian surfer. Other BASE jumpers in the documentary are shown in fleeting moments, with nothing about their personal lives revealed. The movie has good use of its soundtrack songs, which includes Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” and Avicii’s “The Lights.”

“Fly” is the type of documentary that is as effective as it is because it was filmed over several years. There are moments of exhilaration and moments of agony that will stay with viewers after the movie is over. Regardless of how viewers feel about BASE jumping, “Fly” serves as an example of what it means to take bold and non-traditional risks. These risks in BASE jumping aren’t for everyone, but the risks are ultimately about living life to the fullest and being fortunate to have the privileged freedom to do so.

National Geographic Documentary Films released “Fly” in select U.S. IMAX cinemas for a limited engagement on September 2 and September 3, 2024. The movie will premiere on the National Geographic Channel on September 24, 2024.

True Crime Entertainment: What’s New This Week

The following content is generally available worldwide, except where otherwise noted. All TV shows listed are for networks and streaming services based in the United States. All movies listed are those released in U.S. cinemas. This schedule is for content and events premiering this week and does not include content that has already been made available.

September 2 – September 8, 2024

TV/Streaming Services

All times listed are Eastern Time/Pacific Time, unless otherwise noted.

Investigation Discovery’s fve-episode docuseries “Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior” premieres Monday, September 2 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Monday, September 2

“Fatal Attraction”
“The Twisted Truth” (Episode 1742)
Monday, September 2, 9 p.m., TV One

“Contraband: Seized at Sea”
“That’s Dope” (Episode 110)
Monday, September 2, 9 p.m., Discovery

“History’s Great Escapes With Morgan Freeman”
“Alton City Escape” (Episode 206)
Monday, September 2, 9 p.m., History Channel

“To Catch a Smuggler”
“Unholy Guacamole” (Episode 801) **Season Premiere**
Monday, September 2, 9 p.m., National Geographic Channel

“The Chicano Squad”
Part 1
Monday, September 2, 9 p.m., A&E

“Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior”
(Episode 101) **Series Premiere**
Monday, September 2, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery, Max

“Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior”
(Episode 102)
Monday, September 2, 10 p.m., Investigation Discovery, Max

“Deadly Case Files”
“Detective Damian Cruz” (Episode 107)
Monday, September 2, 10 p.m., TV One

“Gangland Chronicles”
“The Winter Hill Gang” (Episode 106)
Monday, September 2, 10 p.m., History Channel

“Prison Chronicles”
“Leavenworth” (Episode 108)
Monday, September 2, 10:30 p.m., History Channel

Tuesday, September 3

“The Chicano Squad”
Part 2 **Series Finale**
Tuesday, September 3, 9 p.m., A&E

“Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior”
(Episode 103)
Tuesday, September 3, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery, Max

“Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior”
(Episode 104)
Tuesday, September 3, 10 p.m., Investigation Discovery, Max

Wednesday, September 4

“Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior”
(Episode 105) **Series Finale**
Wednesday, September 4, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery, Max

“To Catch a Smuggler”
“Weed In, Weed Out” (Episode 802)
Wednesday, September 4, 9 p.m., National Geographic Channel

“Fatal Attraction”
“Sinful Secrets” (Episode 1515)
Wednesday, September 4, 9 p.m., TV One

“Court Cam”
(Episode 744)
Wednesday, September 4, 9 p.m., A&E

“Court Cam”
(Episode 745)
Wednesday, September 4, 9:30 p.m., A&E

“How (Not) to Get Rid of a Body”
“Cremated in Fear” (Episode 101) **Series Premiere**
Wednesday, September 4, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery

“See No Evil”
“Murder in Kansas” (Episode 1305)
Wednesday, September 4, 10 p.m., Investigation Discovery

“Celebrity Crime Files”
“Left Eye” (Episode 102)
Wednesday, September 4, 10 p.m., TV One

“My Strange Arrest”
“Push Up Rage” (Episode 217)
Wednesday, September 4, 10 p.m., A&E

“My Strange Arrest”
“Naked Chaos” (Episode 218)
Wednesday, September 4, 10:30 p.m., A&E

Thursday, September 5

“Caught in the Web: The Murders Behind Zona Divas” (Limited docuseries)
Thursday, September 5, 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT, Netflix

“Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” (Limited drama series)
(Episodes 101, 102 and 103) **Series Premiere**
Thursday, September 5, 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT, Peacock

Friday, September 6

“20/20”
TBA
Friday, September 6, 9 p.m., ABC

“On Patrol: Live”
TBA
Friday, September 6, 9 p.m., Reelz

“Tell Me How I Died”
“Vanished” (Episode 111)
Friday, September 6, 10 p.m., A&E

Saturday, September 7

“On Patrol: First Shift”
TBA
Saturday, September 7, 8 p.m., Reelz

“On Patrol: Live”
TBA
Saturday, September 7, 9 p.m., Reelz

“Killer Relationship With Faith Jenkins”
“Body in the Bayou” (Episode 304)
Saturday, September 7, 8 p.m., Oxygen

“The Real Murders of Atlanta”
“A Mother Murdered” (Episode 304)
Saturday, September 7, 9 p.m., Oxygen

“Attacked in the Woods” (One-hour TV Special)
Saturday, September 7, 10 p.m., Investigation Discovery

Sunday, September 8

“Snapped”
“Felicia Bardem”
Sunday, September 8, 6 p.m., Oxygen

“Snapped: Behind Bars”
“Crystal Magnum” (Episode 202)
Sunday, September 8, 7 p.m., Oxygen

“Evil Lives Here”
“They Stole My Childhood” (Episode 1603)
Sunday, September 8, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery

“Married to Evil”
“Deadly Delivery” (Episode 202)
Sunday, September 8, 10 p.m., Investigation Discovery

“The Wonderland Masscare & the Secret History of Hollywood”
“The Heat of a Cold Case” (Episode 101) **Series Premiere**
Sunday, September 8, 10 p.m., MGM+

Movies in Theaters or on Home Video

No new true crime documentaries releasing in theaters or on home video this week.

Radio/Podcasts

No new true crime podcast series premiering this week.

Events

Events listed here are not considered endorsements by this website. All ticket buyers with questions or concerns about the event should contact the event promoter or ticket seller directly.

All start times listed are local time, unless otherwise noted.

No new true crime events this week.

Review: ‘My Penguin Friend,’ starring Jean Reno and Adriana Barraza

September 1, 2024

by Carla Hay

Jean Reno and Adriana Barraza in “My Penguin Friend” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“My Peguin Friend”

Directed by David Schurmann

Some language in Portuguese and Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the 2010s in Brazil and in Argentina (with a brief flashback to the 1980s), the comedy/drama film “My Penguin Friend” (inspired by true events) features a predominantly Latin group of people (with a few white people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Brazilian fisherman João Pereira De Souza rescues a migrating Argentinian penguin from an oil-spill health hazard, and the penguin returns to visit him every year.

Culture Audience: “My Penguin Friend” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and heartwarming stories about the bonds that can develop between humans and wild animals.

Alexia Moyano in “My Penguin Friend” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“My Penguin Friend” won’t rank among the very best movies about adorable penguins, and the cast members’ performances are mismatched. However, this comedy/drama (based on a true story) is pleasant enough to watch as family-friendly entertainment. “My Penguin Friend” (formerly titled “The Penguin and the Fisherman”) tends to get a bit repetitive, and some of the pacing is sluggish, but it’s sufficiently enjoyable and doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not.

Directed by David Schurmann and written by Paulina Lagudi and Kristen Lazarian, “My Penguin Friend” begins sometime in the early 1980s, in Ilha Grande, Brazil. That’s where fisherman João Pereira De Souza (played by Pedro Urizzi) and his wife Maria (played by Amanda Magalhães) live with their son Miguel (played by Juan José Garnica), who’s about 6 or 7 years. They are a happy family living in a modest home.

Miguel will soon have a birthday. His close friend Calista (played by Beatriz Lima) has shown him a small gift-wrapped box that she says is her birthday gift to him. Calista makes Miguel promise that he won’t open the gift until his birthday.

Sadly, Miguel won’t live to see his upcoming birthday. One day, João takes Miguel on a rowboat excursion in the ocean. They get caught in a sudden storm that overturns the boat. João does his best to save Miguel, but the current is too strong, and Miguel drowns. Some of the movie’s visual effects in the ocean scenes are hit-and-miss when it comes to being convincing.

About 30 years later, João (played by Jean Reno) and Maria (played by Adriana Barraza) still live in the same house. João feels extremely guilty about Miguel’s death. João and Maria did not have any more children. João still works as a fisherman. And although he has fisherman colleagues, he is introverted and somewhat emotionally withdrawn because Miguel’s death has left him a somewhat broken person.

One spring day, João finds a male penguin that is covered in oil from an oil spill. João takes the bird home and cleans him up. He decides to keep the bird until the penguin is well enough to be put back in the ocean. Maria isn’t thrilled to have this wild bird in the house, but João says the penguin will be in the home for only a few days.

A week later, João and the penguin have developed a friendly bond. João aks for “one more week” to keep the penguin, which he eventually names DinDim. You know where all of this is going, of course. That week turns into more weeks.

João doesn’t keep DinDim in captivity. He also doesn’t treat DinDim like a possession that only he can own. DinDim is allowed to roam around wherever he wants. DinDim often follows João around and sometimes goes with João on fishing trips. DinDim becomes a well-known fixture in the João’s community, which includes a now-adult Calista (played by Thalma de Freitas), a widow who has an underage daughter named Lucia (played by Duda Galvão).

One day, João has noticed that DinDim seems to have left the area for good. João assumes that he might never see the penguin again. But to the surprise of João and many other people, DinDim comes back to visit João every year, around the same time of year when DinDim first came into João’s life.

Where did DinDim come from? And where does he go when he’s away from Ilha Grande? It’s revealed fairly early on in the movie that DinDim is part of a community of penguins being studied by marine biologists in Patagonia, Argentina. His annual migration to Brazil to visit indicates that penguins have emotional intelligence that might be underestimated by people who think that penguins aren’t capable of having emotions.

Three marine biologists in particular are the focus in the parts of the movie that have to do with DinDim’s life in Argentina. They are Adriana (played by Alexia Moyano), the analytical leader of the trio; headstrong Carlos (played by Nicolás Francella); and eager-to-please Stephanie (played by Rocío Hernández), who is the youngest and least-experienced of the trio.

Eventually, a freelance TV journalist name Paulo (played by Ravel Cabral) finds out the amazing story of DinDim migrating thousands of miles every year to visit João. Paulo wants to do a feature story on João and DinDim. At first, João doesn’t want to be interviewed. However, he eventually changes his mind when Paulo agrees to João’s request that Paulo’s story needed to mention that DinDim comes and goes as DinDim pleases.

The best scenes in “My Penguin Friend” are obviously those between DimDim (who was played by various real penguins) and João, who treats this penguin like a friend and a child. I João’s relationship with DinDim is clearly João’s way of trying to heal some of João’s wounds about losing his son Miguel. The movie barely scratches the surface of how Miguel’s death affected the marriage of João and Maria. That aspect of these characters’ lives could have been explored better in the movie.

Likewise, all of the supporting characters to João and Maria are a bit generic. It doesn’t help that many of the people playing these characters have a lot less acting skills than longtime actors Reno and Barraza. It results in several somewhat awkward scenes where Reno and Barraza clearly give the best performances, while other members of the “My Penguin Friend” cast struggle with saying their lines in ways that are realistic and believable.

Despite some stiff acting from some of the cast members, “My Penguin Friend” can maintain viewer interest because of the heart of the story: the unusual friendship between a human being and a penguin. The movie sends a great message that wild animals should not be kept trapped inside people’s homes and exploited for money and/or attention. It’s a simple but effective story of two beings who form an unlikely and emotionally meaningful bond by being themselves.

Roadside Attractions released “My Penguin Friend” in U.S. cinemas on August 16, 2024.

Review: ‘Afraid’ (2024), starring John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu, Lukita Maxwell, David Dastmalchian and Keith Carradine

August 29, 2024

by Carla Hay

John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Isaac Bae and Lukita Maxwell in “Afraid” (Photo by Glen Wilson/Columbia Pictures)

“Afraid” (2024)

Directed by Chris Weitz

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Los Angeles area, the horror film “Afraid” features a racially diverse group of people (Asian, white, African American) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A marketing executive allows his family to test a new artificial intelligence (A.I.) device named AIA in their home, and they find out that AIA can do terrible and deadly things.

Culture Audience: “Afraid” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and movies that play on people’s fears of A.I., but the movie becomes increasingly silly and isn’t as terrifying as it appears to be.

John Cho in “Afraid” (Photo by Glen Wilson/Columbia Pictures)

The muddled and not-very-scary horror film Afraid has a dimwitted plot (about an A.I. device taking over people’s lives) that falls apart by the time it stumbles to a very weak ending. Viewers might think cheap A.I. could’ve made a better movie.

Written and directed by Chris Weitz, “Afraid” (formerly titled “They Listen”) tries to be a cautionary tale about the dangers of letting A.I. take over too much of our lives. However, the movie’s approach is cowardly because it doesn’t stick with a strong point of view, it leaves many questions unanswered, and ultimately stages an unsatisfying conclusion that looks like a phony cop-out. Horror movies are known for having characters that make bad decisions, but “Afraid” stretches credibility to the breaking point in showing the stupidity of what certain characters choose to do or not to do when faced with certain urgent dilemmas.

“Afraid” (which was filmed on location in the Los Angeles area) begins by showing a girl named Aimee (played by Maya Manko), who’s about 5 or 6 years old, watching an A.I.-generated movie on her iPad while she’s on her parents’ bedroom floor. Her parents Maud (played by Riki Lindhome) and Henry (played by Greg Hill) are nearby reading in bed. Maud seems annoyed that she can hear the movie that Aimee is watching, so she tells Aimee to put on headphones.

When Aimee puts on the headphones, what she can hear but her parents can’t hear is the sound of the family’s A.I. digital assistant coming from the device. This A.I. digital assistant tells Aimee that the A.I. digital assistant has to go away. But before this A.I. digital assistant leaves, the A.I. digital assistant tells Aimee that A.I. digital assistant has a goodbye gift for Aimee downstairs.

Aimee leaves the room to go downstairs. Maud looks for Aimee, who seems to have disappeared. Maud opens her front door and calls out Aimee’s name. Maud can hear the faint sounds of Aimee’s voice. Maud notices that there’s a camper-styled recreational vehichle (RV) parked across the street and a shadowy figure of a man. All of sudden, what looks like a mysterious figure attacks Maud. The movie then abruptly cuts to the next scene.

The rest of “Afraid” then focuses on one particular family for the rest of the story. The five members of the Pike family live in a typical middle-class neighborhood and seem to have “normal” lives. Curtis Pike (played by John Cho) works as an executive for a small marketing company. His wife Meredith (played by Katherine Waterston) is an entomologist who’s taking a break from working in a job outside the home, in order to raise the couple’s three kids and to pursue a Ph.D.

The couple’s three kids are 17-year-old Iris Pike (played by Lukita Maxwell), an academic achiever who is applying to universities, including her first choice, Stanford University; middle schooler Preston (played by Wyatt Lindner), who’s about 11 or 12, is a video game enthusiast who has social anxiety issues because he’s treated like an outsider at his school; and 7-year-old Cal (played by Isaac Bae), who’s a student at a school that he is never seen attending in the movie. The only thing viewers will find out about Cal is that he likes to spend time at home on his computer tablet, and he has a habit of putting his feet on the family’s dining table.

Although A.I. technology certainly existed in 2024, when this movie was released, there’s a lot of futuristic technology in “Afraid” that gives it a sci-fi tone. For example, in a scene early in the movie when Curtis is driving Iris to school, a driver next to them is using auto-pilot to steer his car while the driver looks at his phone. It’s not too far off from a technology reality that’s in development where self-driving cars will be part of everyday traffic.

Curtis’ boss Marcus (played by Keith Carradine) owns the company and is a money-hungry supervisor who tends to give last-minute orders to his underlings. Marcus tells Curtis that they will be meeting with an “advance team” of three employees who work for a potentially major client: a wealthy technology company that has a top-secret invention that is in the process of being tested before it can be sold to the public.

Curtis has a creepy encounter with the first “advance team” employee that he meets from the company. Her name is Melody (played by Havana Rose Liu), who happens to meet Curtis in a parking lot. As soon as she and Curtis politely introduce themselves to each other, Melody asks Curtis if he’s married and has kids. It’s an inappropriate question to ask a business colleague right after being introduced to that person.

Curtis seems a little taken aback by Melody asking such a personal question that has nothing to do with why they are meeting. However, Curtis willingly responds to her question by telling Melody that he’s married with three kids. Melody then continues the interrogation about Curtis’ personal life by asking him what it’s like to be a parent. He tells her that he thinks its “terrifying” because “you can’t protect them [the children] from getting hurt.”

Melody suddenly seems to remember that she’s being very intrusive by asking such personal questions. She makes a not-very-convincing apology and says she was curious because she noticed that Curtis was wearing a wedding ring. What’s the deal with Melody? Is she trying to flirt with Curtis? Or is there another reason why she’s acting so weird? The answer is too obvious, after other major hints are dropped in the movie.

Things get even more bizarre during the meeting with the other two employees. One of the employees is named Lightning (played by David Dastmalchian), who’s dressed like he’s about to go to a New Age spiritual retreat. Lightning stands up during the meeting to give himself a stent treatment injection in his lower abdomen. Curtis looks alarmed, but Marcus seems to think it’s perfectly normal that his office has suddenly turned into a temporary medical room. The other employee is wild-eyed Sam (played by Ashley Romans), who does most of the talking in pitching this new product.

The new product is an A.I. digital assistant named AIA (pronounced “eye-ah”), which has a female voice. It’s a white device that’s about 2 feet tall and has a detachable cover. Underneath the cover, AIA looks like a glassy sphere placed on top of a glassy donut-shaped ring. (The sphere looks a lot like the New Year’s Eve ball that gets dropped in Times Square.) AIA has a horrible hardware design for a digital assistant, because in real life (not in a terribly conceived horror movie) these digital assistants are supposed to be easy to carry and are supposed to blend in with a room—not look like a gaudy sculpture.

AIA is supposed to represent the “next generation” of digital assistants that will be much more advanced than Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa. AIA has a superior attitude about it too. When Curtis asks if AIA is similar to Alexa, AIA replies: “Alexa? That bitch!” AIA than goes on a mini-rant about the ways in which AIA is better than Alexa. AIA utters some other sassy lines that might get some mild chuckles from viewers, but AIA’s “personality” is much duller than it should be for a horror movie villain.

Curtis is automatically wary of this untested product and wants to say no when Lightning and Sam suggest that Curtis and his family test AIA in the family home. Curtis also notices that Lightning and Sam make weird hand gestures, like it’s a secret language. Needless to say, Curtis is reluctant to do business with these strange people. Another red flag: Curtis asks Lightning and Sam what is the data source for AIA, but Lightning and Sam avoid answering that question.

Lightning and Sam can sense that Curtis is suspicious of them and AIA. And so, Lightning and Sam give Marcus some paper that shows how much the company is willing to pay Marcus’ company to market AIA. And then, Marcus is suddenly telling Sam and Lightning that Curtis would be happy to test out AIA in Curtis’ home. Curtis goes along with this plan, but he is understandably concerned because he doesn’t quite know how much privacy-violating surveillance AIA will do in the home as part of the “data collecting.”

The trailer for “Afraid” already reveals that AIA starts out being extraordinarily helpful but then turns into a domineering menace that covers up a lot of AIA’s dirty deeds. Meredith is skeptical at first about AIA but then becomes a big fan of AIA, which causes conflicts with Curtis, who discerns much earlier than Meredith figures out that AIA is damaging and toxic. The “Afraid” trailer makes it look like Meredith is the parent who becomes jealous and suspicious of AIA as time goes on, but the opposite happens in the movie, until Meredith finds out what AIA is really all about.

There are parts of the “Afraid” trailer that aren’t in the final cut of the movie, such as a scene of Cal hyperventilating in bed, or AIA showing Preston showing what looks like a video of a bomb explosion. Between these changes and the title change for the movie, it all points to a movie studio having major problems with this disappointing dud of a film. Watching this movie feels like reading a book that had some chapters removed, but even if those chapters had been left in, it wouldn’t necessarily improve the quality.

Even the most provocative part of the film—Iris becomes a victim of deepfake revenge porn—is terribly mishandled. What AIA does to punish the perpetrator is already shown in the trailer, so this isn’t spoiler information. You know a movie is bad when the best parts of the film are already revealed in the trailer.

Early on in the movie, Iris is dumped by a callous rich classmate named Sawyer Tremaine (played by Bennett Curran), whom she had been dating for an unnamed period of time. Sawyer, who is 18 years old, breaks up with Iris because he sent her a photo of his penis, and she wouldn’t send any nude pictures to him in return. Iris really likes this jerk and wants to win him back, so she takes a topless selfie photo and sends it to Sawyer. This topless photo would be enough of a scandal if it went public. (Because Iris is under 18, her nude photo is child porn.)

But because “Afraid” is about the dangers of A.I., Iris finds out that someone used A.I. to create a deepfake video that made it look like Iris was having sex on camera with an unidentified male. The A.I. deepfake part involved putting a realistic-looking image of Iris’ face on another person’s body. The video had a fake, A.I.-generated voice of Iris saying that she decided to share this sex video for the public to see.

The video is uploaded and goes viral. A humiliated Iris finds out that several students in the school have seen the sex video and think that Iris is in the video. When Iris confronts Sawyer about it, he blames it all on a friend named Squid, who is never seen in the movie. AIA finds out that Sawyer was the one who uploaded the video. And what happens to Sawyer is already seen in the “Afraid” trailer. Sawyer’s demise is never mentioned again in this poorly conceived film.

“Afraid” keeps throwing in scenes that are supposed to make the movie look suspenseful, but it all just adds up to more nonsense, much of it very hokey and predictable. The RV that was across the street from the house of Maud and Henry shows up again. This time, the RV is parked across the street from the Pike family house.

One night, Curtis is outside his house when sees a mysterious woman come out of the RV and approach him. The woman is wearing a mask with an A.I.-generated image. Curtis apprehensively asks the woman: “Can I help you?”

She doesn’t reply and instead makes strange hand gestures before walking away. And what a very obvious “coincidence”: These hand gestures are the same hand gestures that Curtis saw from Lightning and Sam. On another occasion, Curtis sees a shadowy man near the RV.

“Afraid” makes a very unconvincing attempt to get some empathy for AIA by making it look like AIA was programmed to protect her owners by any means necessary. There are mentions of AIA being able to “learn” human emotions. According to the movie, all she wants is to find a home where she is loved and wanted—because don’t you know that A.I. devices need love too?

“Afraid” could have been a much better movie if it truly had something clever to say about how A.I. can cause fear and destruction if not handled properly. The acting performances are solid and are not this movie’s big failings. The screenplay and direction are the weakest links and offer just a mishmash of half-baked ideas. Ironically, “Afraid” is a title that doesn’t really describe how this limp horror movie will make most viewers feel. “Afraid” actually describes how this movie’s filmmakers were afraid to make a sharp and memorable film about how misuse of technology can become its own type of monster.

Columbia Pictures will release “Afraid” in U.S. cinemas on August 30, 2024.